Research of retention and disposition processes in an internet website of the government of Israel: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a case study (He) Interpares Dr. Silvia Schenkolewski-Kroll, Senior Lecturer, Department of Information Science, Bar-Ilan University Dr. Assaf Tractinsky, Israel State Archives, Manager of Information and Description Department

1. Research of retention and disposition
processes in an internet website of the
government of Israel: The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs as a case study
Silvia Schenkolewski-Kroll, PhD, Department
of Information Science, Bar Ilan University &
Assaf Tractinsky PhD Israel State Archives
Eva/ Minerva
Jerusalem, 8th November 2015

2. InterPARES Trust – 2013-2018
• Founding
– Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Partnership Grant
– University of British Columbia's Vice President Research,
the Dean of Arts, and the School of Library, Archival and
Information Studies
– Partners
• Partners: 50+ universities and organizations, national and
international, public and private
• From various continents: from North America, Latin America,
Europe, Africa, Australasia and Asia
Prof. Luciana Duranti, British Colombia
University, Canada http://interparestrust.org/

3. The International Research on Permanent
Authentic Records in Electronic Systems
(InterPARES)
• Luciana Duranti, Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old
Science, Part 1 -6, Archivaria (1989 – 1992)
• The Preservation of the Integrity of Electronic Records
(UBC Project) 1994-1997
• InterPARES 1 - The Long-term Preservation of Authentic
Electronic Records
• InterPARES 2 -Experiential, Interactive, Dynamic Records
• InterPARES 3 - Theoretical Elaborations into Archival
Management (TEAM): Implementing the theory of
preservation of authentic records in digital systems in
small and medium-sized archival organizations

4. WORK ENVIRONMENT OF THE
InterPARES TRUST
• Storage and Accessibility in the Internet and
Cloud Environments
‒ Creation and access to records by people and organizations
‒ Storing enormous amounts of data
‒ In an environment that is not very secure
• Questions:
‒ Can the information be trusted?
‒ How and where is it stored?
‒ Who has legal control and authority over it?
‒ Who has access to it, and until when?
‒ How secure is the information?
‒ Is its privacy guaranteed?

5. InterPARES Trust (2013-2018)
Purpose:
To create theories and methodologies in
order to develop international and local
policy, procedures, regulations, standards and
laws, with the purpose of ensuring public
confidence in the digital records found on the
internet.

6. Five Research Domains
• Infrastructure: Considers issues relating to system architecture and related
infrastructure as they affect records held in online environments.
• Security: Considers records issues relating to online data security,
including: security methods, data breaches, cybercrime, risks associated
with shared servers, information assurance, governance, audits and
auditability, forensic readiness, risk assessment, and backup.
• Control: Focuses on the management of digital material in online
environments. It addresses such issues as: authenticity, reliability, and
accuracy of data; integrity metadata; chain of custody; retention and
disposition; transfer and acquisition; intellectual control, and access
controls.
• Access: Researches open access/open data; the right to know/duty to
remember/right to be forgotten; privacy; accountability; and transparency.
• Legal: Considers issues such as the application of legal privilege (including
the issue of extraterritoriality);legal hold; chain of evidence; authentication
of evidence offered at trial; certification; and soft laws (in particular UN
standard-setting instruments).

7. Five Research Cross Domains
• Terminology: The ongoing production of a multilingual glossary; a
multilingual dictionary with sources;ontologies; and background papers
explaining the use of terms and concepts within the project.
• Resources: Ongoing production of annotated bibliographies, identifying
relevant published articles, books, etc., case law, policies, statutes, standards,
blogs and similar grey literature.
• Policy: Considers policy-related issues emerging from the five research
domains; in general, it addresses recordkeeping issues associated with the
development and implementation of policies having an impact on the
management of records in an online environment.
• Social/Societal Issues: Concerned with the analysis of social change
consequent to the use of theInternet, including but not limited to use/misuse of
social media of all types, trustworthiness of news,data leaks (intentional or
accidental/force majeure) consequences, development issues (power balance
in a global perspective), organizational culture issues, and individual
behaviour issues.
• Education: Develops different models of curricula for transmitting the new
knowledge produced by the project.

8. ARCHIVAL TERMINOLOGY
• Appraisal
– This is the process by which the value of archival
records and their disposition - whether for short-term
retention or permanent retention – are decided.
– In electronic records this process also combines the
technological knowledge required to appraise the
possibility of preserving the record; and whether
changes have occurred in the record over time, which
can harm its authenticity and preservation.
– This is a dynamic process.

9. RETENTION AND DISPOSITION PROCESSES ON A
GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF THE
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

10. RETENTION AND DISPOSITION PROCESSES ON A
GOVERNMENT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF THE
MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Purposes of the Research
• To examine the archival procedure of appraising
records on the website
‒ Retention schedule of records
‒ Removal of records (transfer to the appropriate place
of storage or archives, or destruction)
• Creation of processes and instruction manuals
‒ The Ministry will be able to appraise its records
according to retention schedules
‒ For disposition or permanent retention

11. PROCESSES OF RETENTION AND DISPOSITION
ON A GOVERNMENRT WEBSITE – THE CASE OF
THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
• Why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
− It is conducted in English
− It contains public relations material that
changes at internals
− Old pages and contents are saved
− It receives responses from the public
− It is being used to develop consular
services

12. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 Is there any method for determining retention periods for the
records on the site?
 Is there a method for the disposition of records, by disposal of
the material or by transferring it to another repository?
 What are the links between the organization and the internet
provider (Tehila), regarding the retention and disposition of
records?
 What is the role of other elements (the Ministry units, the Israel
State Archives) in relation to retention and disposition?
 To what degree do the existing procedures for electronic and
traditional records influence the content and functions of records
on the internet?
 Do records found only on the site require special treatment?
• What is the most suitable method for determining retention
schedules and disposition on the website?

13. RESEARCH STAGES AND METHODS
Research Processes
a) Examination of the types of records, examination of the policy and
work procedures on the ministry website, and examination of the retention
and disposition processes
b) A comparison with the appraisal and retention process of the
InterPARES research
c) A comparative study of procedures and standards in Israel and abroad
Research Methods
• Observations of the site and their analysis (for example, perusal of
pages and understanding the type of document, procedures of preparing
metadata)
• Interviews with workers who operate the site, from the content aspect
and the technological aspect
• Interviews with workers who provide the site with material
• Reading and appraising procedures, standards and professional
literature in Israel and abroad

14. Steps and Findings
• Intensive examination of the website front-end
• Interviews with persons in the Ministry
• MFA website has implemented Gov-‐X Standard, SharePoint
2010 - Used as content management system, Governmental
Cloud
• MFA has clear records management policy in general, but not
concerning the website
• MFA does not have a clear policy about website content which
is determined exclusively by the website content managers
(Except for Consular Department)
• The know-how on the part of the Ministry vis-à-vis server
operation is limited
• Literature review

15. APPRAISAL OF ARCHIVAL MATERIAL IN
THE RESEARCH
 An attempt to adopt the existing model in the Ministry to the
website – it became apparent that a complete adoption was not
possible
 The characteristics of records on the website are different from
those of classic records (transaction material as opposed to material
of a publication nature)
 Today’s retention schedules are based on Ministry units, subjects
and functions, which are difficult to adapt to the subjects and the
diplomatic forms of the records on the website
 A method of appraising records of an organizational system at
the level of files, and not individual documents
 Links between the sections of the website
 The same records appear in several sections (where are they to
be appraised?)

16. Additional Issues
• Website harvesting
– The entire website
– Parts of the website
• The user issue - ways in which the website is
used
 User segmentation
 Website sections and the way they are divided
internally
 Does the number of visits to a specific website section
or page point to their importance in the eyes of the
users?

17. Harvesting
• Software that makes it possible to
locate the site or sections of it
– “To harvest" is to create copies in the
computer on a specific date, and at
intervals of time that have been
determined by those responsible for this
process
– Adapting to the structure of the site , its
content, the time and a specific situation

18. Users Behavior
• The issue of the quantity of users and its
influence on the appraisal has not yet been
raised in the literature.
• Only a systematic study during a specific
period of time, of the quantity of users
compared with the material presented on
various parts of the site, can provide an
answer about this criterion

19. Analysis of sections
• MASHAV (1957) - Israel's Agency for
International Development and Cooperation
(Certain amount of autonomy)
– Presenting courses
– four continents
– The information of this sub-site is partly informative
and partly fulfilling administrative functions
• Foreign Policy
– present through information from the past and current
news, the policy and activities of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs .The format of the material is similar to
traditional publications in the written and electronic
media

20. MASHAV Structure

21. Foreign Relation Structure

22. Attempts to determine retention
periods for the two sections above
• MASHAV
– The parallels exist because the section
represents a defined administrative unit
– sections 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 of the Archives Law
guidelines for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Foreign Policy
• Publicist nature - has no parallel to the retention
periods
• Harvesting periods in accordance with the pace
of events and/or the number of users

23. Attempts to determine retention periods for
the two sections above (Cont.)
Foreign Policy (Cont.)
• The webmaster made an advance selection of the
material
• The criteria for her choices are unclear. Therefore, it
appears that there is no point to recommending setting
retention periods for the 'Foreign Relations' section
• Each of the sections will require a process of study
and analysis of each section,
– Internal organization and
– Content and diplomatic form of the records

24. A Comparison of Users' Data
• The purpose - to integrate users' behavior on the website in
the process of its appraisal
• The goal - to present trends and estimates in the field,
rather than results
• Reasons:
– The material on the website is mostly different than that of
the internal organizational systems and
– The material on the site is accessible to the public at all
times.
– An external element may be required to assist in the site's
appraisal, in addition to, or instead of, the criteria usually
used in a standard appraisal, such as administrative use; or
legal, sociological and research value

25. Summary of 2014
Number of Pageviews in the Sections

26. Summary of 2014
Periods of Time Spent

27. Trends/Conclusions
1. This type of system makes it possible to observe sections
and sub-sections throughout various periods of time.
1.1 Criteria that influence the appraisal and the determination of
retention periods.
2. The sections most viewed are 'About Israel' and 'Foreign
Policy'. The section with the fewest pageviews is
MASHAV. However, in MASHAV, users spent the most
time on pages, in accordance with the nature of the sub site
and its operational nature.
3. According to the experience of the director of the website,
the minimal significant amount of time spent on a page is
at least 60 seconds. This datum requires additional study.

28. Summary and Conclusions
• Literature on the subject (mainly instructions for
retention of websites)
• The Archives Law of Israel
• Analysis of :
– the structure and content of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs website in English, focusing in-depth on
sections of MASHAV and Foreign Policy
– To demonstrate two different types of records and
information included in each one of them,
– Assumption that they can constitute a basis for
appraisal of additional sections.

29. Summary and Conclusions
 We did not find in the regulations for the
retention of government websites any
special appraisal instructions; only general
instructions on procedures according to the
law.
 The Archives Law of the State of Israel
does not mention the subject.
 There are no practical instructions on this
topic.

30. Summary and Conclusions (Cont.)
 Appraisal of the entire website or operating a
harvest program which is programmed to act on
fixed dates, or adapted to the contents of each
section.
 Its not seem feasible to operate a harvest
program at lower levels
 Whether from the aspect of the content or the
technical difficulty.

31. Summary and Conclusions (Cont.)
• MASHAV
• Close adherence to the MASHAV administrative
unit
• Operational nature
• Archives Law
• Foreign Policy
• Informative - almost journalistic –nature
• Statistical data – quantity of users, and the time they
spend in the section.
• No possibility of relying on a previous appraisal,
because it does not exist

32. Summary and Conclusions -Topics that
Need to be Studied and Discussed
 Transferring the entire website, or parts of it, to be
permanently stored in the Israel State Archives, has
not yet been dealt with.
 An appraisal according to sections, and to determine
retention periods for each one of them, the
technological aspect of its implementation will need to
be studied.
 There is a need to define the meta-data required to
preserve the authenticity of the stored records and to
prevent changes to them.

33. Summary and Conclusions -Topics that
Need to be Studied and Discussed (Cont.)
• A study of the entry points of the users and
their geographical origins may constitute
parameters of significance in the evaluation.
• Using statistical methods on sample records
for purposes of choosing material for
preservation.
• The quality of the website, from the aspect
of its accessibility and links.

34. Thank you